Somnium
by Lord Vukodlak
Summary: What if after the events of the kiss Jane hadn't forgiven Daria. What if over the events of the summer she instead cut all ties with her. What might happen when they meet again years later.


So awhile there was a writing challenge posted on the paperpusher forum on the idea "Jane doesn't forgive Daria" and instead cuts all ties with her. This is the story I submitted for that challenge.

 **Somnium**

"How many years had it been?" Jane muttered to herself leaning against the same wall a selection of her artwork was hung. It had been five no six years since she left Lawndale for the Art Colony in the after math of the kiss. She'd rarely come back here and when she did it was mainly to visit Trent. She'd managed to find modest success in the art world, a mixture of art restoration, reproduction and her own work. What brought her back home tonight however was something special. The Lawndale Art Museum was hosting an exhibit of young and up coming artists and some of her work had been selected. It was basically an exposure gig but she was free to sell her work to any of the patrons that came by. She'd already sold two paintings for twice what they usually went for and Jane hoped to use this chance to build a larger client base.

Jane was talking up her painting of a man rendered in cubism style painting a portrait of a regular woman painting a man rendered in cubism painting a portrait of a regular woman…. and so forth when she saw her standing across the room. Daria Morgendorffer or The Traitor as she'd often thought of her. Jane almost hadn't recognized her. This Daria was wearing a emerald gown with x-long black gloves, her hair worn up with a green and possibly jeweled headband tying it together. Her old huge frame glasses had been replaced with a slimmer more elegant pair.

What else had changed in the past six years? Jane wondered. They hadn't spoken since the day she left for the Art Colony. Back then Jane could have seen herself forgiving Tom for what he'd done the two of them were going to break up sooner or later anyway. But Daria her best friend hadn't just stabbed her in the back by kissing Tom she'd lied to her face that she wasn't interested in him. Daria had told her emphatically that she wasn't interesting in Tom and yet she ended up making out with him in his car later that day. But that was one night a long time ago. Was six years enough time to forgive her former friend, could they mend fences and become amiga's again? Jane decided that she could at least give it a try. As she approached looked a little like a deer caught in the head lights of an oncoming car something that brought a twinge of both pride and satisfaction to Jane's face.

"Hey" she said.

"Hey" Daria replied.

They stood staring at one another in silence for sometime neither knowing quite what to say after so long apart. Maybe this would have been easier to hash out years ago but you can't change the past no matter how much either them wish they could.

"Surprised to see you here, this kind of swanky party was never your cup of tea."

"Family Obligation." She honestly hadn't wanted to come but one can take only so much nagging. "I recognized your work the moment I walked in here."

"Thanks... I wouldn't be here either if they hadn't selected some of my art work to display." This would normally be where Daria would say as if Security would have let her in the front door otherwise but her former friend stayed silent so Jane said it for her. "As if security would have let me inside if I wasn't one of the artists. In fact they nearly didn't."

"You said it not me." Daria laughed if only slightly. "So you've made it as an artist?"

"I wouldn't say I've made it yet; my studio apartment is just as dilapidated, as Casa-Lane only my apartment is barely larger then my old bedroom. After the Art Colony I went back to selling paintings for Gary for awhile."

"What about your own work?" Daria remembered how draining it had been only making reproductions the last time she tried this.

"I convinced Gary to start including free copies of my own work with some of my reproductions, eventually a few of his clients started asking for Jane originals."

"I assume by convinced you mean blackmailed."

"I prefer extortion much classier, but yeah I said he could either provide a few free copies of my work or I'd stop making him reproductions."

"Does he handle the sale of Jane originals."

"Nah this art dealer Christof Maximoff bought one of my Van Gogh reproductions but fell in love with my painting Bloodmoon Rising Over the Meadow."

"Maximoff... I think I heard of him, isn't he the one who dips himself in paint then does gymnastics over a huge canvas board?"

"That's the one."

"What does a guy like that want with cheap reproductions... no offense."

"None taken, he and his art buddies like to take cheap knock offs and go skeet shooting."

"Sounds like fun" Daria laughed and Jane showed her.

"It is, I actually went once shot my own Persistence of Memory anyway he helped me get into this exhibit said it should raise my profile and become staring artist instead of a starving one."

"Well I'm happy you're finding success doing what you love."

"Me too so what has The Great Daria Morgendorffer been up to since... the incident." It still felt a little raw bringing up the kiss. They'd made it this far by pretending it didn't happen maybe that was the answer. "You get into Raft?"

"Eventually, my entry into college life was delayed until a couple years ago in fact."

"Delayed? What happened to the brain I remember."

"Things were... hard after you left. I didn't really have anyone left to hang out with..." She struggled with what to say next, should she tell Jane how she struggled with depression, how her grades slipped. That some days she just couldn't muster the will to get out of bed. She even had a brief experimentation in cutting. No Jane didn't deserve to feel guilty for severing ties with her Jane hadn't done anything wrong.

"Except Tom." Jane sighed.

"Yeah, we dated the whole summer before we broke up." She left out the part where they broke up after he found out she was cutting herself and he insisted she get help.

"Nice to hear."

"But Quinn convinced me to give it another shot."

"Damn, so how'd that work out?"

"I got pregnant, which was the main reason I was late going to college."

"WHAT?!" Jane was shocked at that turn of events.

"Well long story short, there was an incident everyone assumed we had sex when in fact nothing happened. But it got us talking and we decided to take that next step in our relationship and I ended up pregnant." She could still remember agonizing over that decision the thought of that much intimacy had been overwhelming, but without Jane around fear of loneliness won out. The sex did prove something of a catharsis for her depression which made it rather frequent.

"We used condoms every time but one night it broke and I ended up with these…"

Daria fished a few photos from her purse and showed them to Jane. The first one showed Daria laying in a hospital bed looking utterly exhausted holding two snoozing infants one in wrapped in blue the other in pink. When she told Tom the news his eyes rolled back in his head she could have sworn his heart must have stopped. But he put on a brave face told her with a trembling voice that everything would be okay. Another was a wedding photo Tom in a tux, Daria in a white gown, each carrying one infant in a Snugli baby carrier. A third photo also from the wedding showed them along side Helen, Jake, Kay and Angier. They got married largely to send a message to their parents. The one thing the four grand parents agreed on in the beginning was that Tom should just write a check and never have contact with her or the children again. The wedding was a statement that they were in it for the long haul so they'd better learn to deal with it otherwise they'd be the ones who wouldn't see them again.

"Twins... you had twins."

"Yeah... the boy on the left we named Quinton when I announced my pregnancy mom basically threw me out of the house for awhile and my dad wouldn't talk to me for a two months. Quinn stood by me so I thought she deserved the honor." The Sloane's weren't exactly thrilled either but they did let her stay a few days until her parents mellowed out and apologized.

"Why not name the girl after your sister?"

"We named her Jane... after the best friend whom I missed everyday" Daria cried tears coming to her eyes.

"I missed you too." Jane cried embracing her long lost friend. "I wasted so many years being angry with you."

Daria snapped out of her daydream of a tearful reunion and looked back to where Jane was standing and her eyes locked with her former friend who finally noticed her. For a moment it looked like Jane would actually approach instead turned around and walked out.

"Hey Dar, you okay." Tom asked slipping an arm around her waist.

"No" she sobbed burying her face in his chest. "Lets go home... please. We showed up talked to people that should keep your mom off our back right?"

"Alright." Tom forced a smile wishing that had gone better or even anywhere. Destroying Daria's friendship with Jane was his greatest regret in life. Then last week his mother was nagging him to take Daria to the exhibit make a showing as a Sloane. He was about to tell her that they'd already made plans that night with the Mackenzie's(a lie) when he saw Jane's name on the artist lists. It was in that moment he made his decision he was going to get Daria and Jane back together. So he agreed to his mother's request and told Daria that he'd been tricked into revealing they had no plans that evening. She scolded him for having been played and remained them of their system to avoid these things in the future. He hoped that if he could just get them into the same room together they could talk things out but it all blew up in her face instead. Maybe things would have gone better if he'd just told her Jane would be there she could have prepared herself for it, or refused to go at all. He supposed either result would have been an improvement. Dr. Alan their marriage councilor had told him to stop trying to be a hero and fix everything instead of just talking things out but once again like a dope he hadn't listened. Instead he'd only reopened old wounds and pointlessly reminded his wife of what she'd lost once again.

"Yeah stuff happened." Tom sighed trying not to think how bad that reunion went. He reached into wallet and handed her a few twenties for the babysitting job.

"Always nice doing business with you Mr. Sloane, have a good night." She waved goodbye before grabbing her book bag and heading out the door.

Heading up stairs they checked on the twins who were already fast asleep in their beds. Little Jane was clinging to her stuffed rabbit Haigha. Quinton was cuddled up with their cat Goliath a Maine Coon who was named ironically being the runt of the litter. But after a couple years he now truly lived up to his name almost three feet long excluding the tail.

They showered, first Daria then Tom before settling into bed. Tom spooned against her and whispered. "I'm sorry"

"Its not your fault" she muttered back.

"Yes, it is." He said before they both drifted off.

Daria dreamed of a world where she and Jane remained friends, Tom dreamed of a world much the same.

-  
Jane returned from the bathroom just after Daria and Tom had left and looked around wondering where that familiar looking girl went. "Must have spooked her" she figured, "I did spend half the night staring at her hope I didn't scare off a buyer." She'd sold two paintings today and was hoping for a third but ah well she thought. The woman in the green gown had reminded her of Daria but it couldn't have been her could it?. The youngest of the Lane's missed her old friend and often wondered what became of her, how she was doing, if things worked out for her with Tom. Every so often she thought about looking up her old friend and trying to reconnect but she always thought better of it. They'd been estranged longer then they'd been friends wherever Daria was she must have moved on with her life and Jane saw no reason to disrupt that for her own selfish reasons.

 **The End**


End file.
